European ghetto-installation will be constructed to Stoa in September
The City Ghettos of Today is a unique artistic initiative exploring the concept of ‘ghetto’ in 7 European cities. The activities of the project will take place in Helsinki between 8.9. and 20.9. These include a transforming installation that will form its contents in multidisciplinary workshops collaboratively with an international team of artists and local participants, a seminar that presents the cases of the project in the different cities, a series of workshops and public interview-discussions and two public performances related to the collectively built installation.
At the heart of the project lies a desire to construct together meaningful experiences and new ways of understanding the concept of ghettos in different European cities. Do spatial, invisible or abstract walls separate groups of people from other groups? Why, when and how this happens in the different cities?
The installation consists of different sized tubes that transform into containers for sounds and voices, video screens or corridors for actors. The collective building process of the installation is combined with dialogical meetings with representatives of different communities in each city. Instead of being an independent and finalized work of art, the installation is a travelling tool for exploring the theme during the collective period of creation. In Helsinki the approach on the ghetto-concept concentrates on limits that make it difficult to share different types of knowledge. With whom can individuals from varied backgrounds share their knowledge, visions and practices and what kind of communities does this process form?
The programme of interviews was planned together with Sivuvalo project´s multilingual writers residing in Finland and other partner associations and organizations of the project. In Helsinki the installation will be built to Cultural Centre Stoa 9.9.-19.9. in workshops open for participants from Helsinki. A seminar presenting the project cases of Warsaw, Bologna, Paris and other cities will take place at Lavaklubi of the National Theatre 16.9. at 2-6 pm. A performance related to the installation will take place at Stoa 17.9. at 6 pm and at Shopping Centre Forum 19.9. at 5 pm. A final installation that compiles the materials from the project´s seven cities will be constructed in Warsaw in january 2015.
The Helsinki-based members of the artist team are Alejandro Olarte, electroacoustic musician and composer-educator-researcher from Colombia, Marek Pluciennik, video artist from Poland, Walter Fondo, actor and association activist from Cameroon, and Eveliina Heinonen, drama educator born in Finland and Roxana Crisólogo, a poet born in Peru. The artistic director of the international project is Pietro Floridia, a theatre director and multidisciplinary artist from Bologna. In September, a team of artists coming from the project´s different cities will guide the building process of the installation Helsinki together with the local team.
Project partners in Finland are Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Cultural Centre Stoa, Citizen´s Forum, Helinä Rautavaara Museum, Ptarmigan ry, Pacunet ry, National Theatre´s audience development and Sivuvalo-project of multilingual writers. Project is financially supported by European Commission – Program Europe for Citizens and co-financed by Evens Foundation. Helsinki project is supported by Arts Promotion Centre, Citizen´s Forum and from Pacunet´s part, Ministry of Culture and Education.
More information and inscriptions
Regional Artist on Cultural Diversity Outi Korhonen, [email protected], 0295 330 805
www.cityghettos.com
Press photos
Picture by Outi Korhonen